Former Villanova swimmer and runner Summer Rappaport earned a spot in the 2020 Olympic triathlon in a qualifying race Thursday morning in Tokyo (Wednesday night in the U.S.) that was beset by unusual circumstances.
The race had a shorter distance due to heat, a crash that took out top-ranked Katie Zaferes of the United States, and a disqualification of the top two finishers because they crossed the finish line together.
Rappaport, who won a World Cup race in June and finished second to Zaferes in a World Triathlon Series race in May in Yokohama, Japan, crossed the finish line seventh to earn the spot on offer for the highest-placed U.S. competitor in the top eight. If the disqualifications of British triathletes Jessica Learmonth and Georgia Taylor-Brown are upheld, Rappaport will move up to fifth.
Ranked No. 6⃣ in the ITU World Triathlon Series.
— USA Triathlon (@usatriathlon) August 15, 2019
3 WTS Medals this year: 2 Silvers, 1 Bronze 🥈🥈🥉
Former swimmer and cross-country runner at @NovaAthletics 🏊♀️🏃♀️
Now, she's qualified to represent Team USA at the #Tokyo2020 Olympic Games! Congratulations, @Summerrappz! 💪🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/MhKC75BSaT
Because no American finished on the podium, which would have opened the possibility of having two automatic qualifiers from Thursday’s race, another spot will be available in another qualifying race in May in Yokohama. Should the U.S. have three athletes in the top 30 of the Olympic rankings, a virtual certainty, the third pick will be discretionary.
Bermuda’s Flora Duffy will be the race winner if the disqualifications stand.
Rappaport and Zaferes finished the swim phase among the leaders and remained in the top three early in the bike phase.
But Rappaport wound up in the chase pack at the end of the bike phase, nearly two minutes behind a pack of leaders that included American Taylor Spivey. Joining Rappaport in the chase pack were Taylor Knibb and Kirsten Kasper, who was also involved in the crash that ended Zaferes’ race.
More bad luck on the bike for @KZaferes6 and she is out on lap 3, teammate @KirstenKasper came off too but is back with a pack including @MiriamCasillasG @VixHolland and @NonStanford
— TriathlonLIVE (@triathlonlive) August 14, 2019
📺 https://t.co/JwsigQEnNx pic.twitter.com/jyZ8HdXN9E
Rappaport rallied in the running phase with the second-best time (16:36) of any competitor in the race.
Athletes ran 5 kilometers instead of 10km because of excessive heat that has afflicted Japan for weeks and contributed to the deaths of scores of residents, including an Olympic construction worker.
The heat also affected a test of the Olympic open-water course on Sunday, where swimmers reported excessive heat and some concerns that efforts to clean the water were not sufficient. The water temperature at 5 a.m. was 29.9 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), just shy of FINA’s limit of 31 degrees (88 degrees). Concern over heat in the long distance swimming events ramped up after the death of U.S. swimmer Fran Crippen in 2010.
Triathlon’s organizing body, the ITU, has a slightly slower temperature limit of 30.9 degrees. The temperature at the race start Thursday morning was 30.3 degrees.
The men’s race takes place Friday morning in Tokyo (Thursday night in the U.S.).
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